The Running Woman
by the archduke
Summary: While on her regular morning jog, Relena encounters something out of the ordinary, but not necessarily unwelcome, that changes her relationship with Heero. Fluffiness ensues.
1. Default Chapter

"The Running Woman"

by: the archduke

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing and this is a totally not-for-profit endeavor. And this also has nothing to do with the movie "The Running Man" other than I like the movie.

Relena Dorlain opened her eyes and immediately sat upright and looked to her left. Her bedside clock read 7:58 AM and she quickly ran her hand along the side of the little black box in search of the button that would disable her as-yet-to-go-off alarm. She smiled triumphantly as she heard the reassuring "beep" that signified her success. This was her early morning game: challenging the alarm clock as to who would be the first to start their day. She was becoming very good at it, with her internal alarm kicking in with about two or three minutes to spare for the last couple of days. After mentally patting herself on the back at her victory, she lay back on her bed and just stared at the ceiling.

She took these few minutes of peace to mentally go over her schedule for the day. Morning run at 8:15, shower at 8:45, breakfast in her limo at 9:30, and her first meeting of the day, with the Interior Minister, at 10:00 in her office at Preventer's Headquarters. She sighed, hating to go all the way downtown when she had a perfectly good office in her own home. But no, according to the Preventers, or more accurately one very adamant Preventer in particular, it would be too dangerous having her private residence serve as a public government building during office hours.

Relena's fingers began to drum against the side of her bed as her thoughts turned to Heero Yuy, the afore mentioned Preventer. He had joined the Preventers three years ago, at the close of A.C. 197, and had been a major pain ever since. She still thought fondly of him, some would even say pined after him, but she was now less public about her feelings. She was always cordial towards him on the rare occasion he allowed himself to be seen by her, but other than that there was little contact between them.

However, that didn't mean that he was completely out of her life. For example, she was certain that he was the one who put up all of those cameras around both the main building and the surrounding grounds of the complex that was her home. She had put up with the cameras in the halls and in the gardens, but when she had come home one night and seen a camera in her bedroom, well, that was the breaking point. She had taken a formal walking stick that a member of the African Delegation had given to her and had enjoyed a rousing game of "Hit the Camera Until It Breaks Into Tiny Pieces". Of course her little fit had lead to a whole army of Preventors coming into her room with guns raised, and upon seeing her, standing with a large stick over a beaten camera, they drew their own conclusions as to what had happened. Suffice it to say, she had made it clear that there would be no cameras in any of the private quarters.

And it was all Heero's fault. She hadn't been able to confirm it, but she was sure that he was behind turning her life into a voyeur's fantasy all in the name of "protecting" her. It wouldn't surprise her in the least if she found that he wanted to implant her with some sort of microchip that would keep constant tabs on her whereabouts. She made a mental note to carefully examine all her food before ingesting for the foreseeable future.

Deciding that ten minutes of thinking about Heero Yuy was enough for one day, or at least one morning, Relena got out of bed and changed into her jogging apparel. After completing the outfit by lacing up her athletic shoes and then spending a few minutes stretching all the important muscle groups, she left her room and made her way down the stairs and out onto the expansive grounds that she called her backyard.

She surveyed the land as was her habit, and marveled at the beauty of the surrounding area. The home and land had been in the Darlian family for several generations, and though she was not related by blood, she was the latest in a line of Darlians to reside there. She had inherited the estate after the assassination of her father, and after offering it to her mother, who declined citing her love for city living, moved out to the relatively more peaceful existence of the country.

Her eyes landed on the beginning of the jogging path, if the faint trail that led through some of the more heavily wooded areas of the property could be called that. She enjoyed cross-country running more than if she used a track, savoring the unpredictability of tree roots and animals that littered the trail. When she had first moved to the estate she had had to fight for the right to run through her own woods, many people telling her that it was too great of a security risk. After a series of compromises (she was Relena Darlian after all) it was agreed that she would adhere to a preplanned trail that would be lined by a series of tree-mounted cameras to monitor her progress. The only other viable alternative that she would agree to, having a Preventer agent accompany her on her run, was quickly vetoed by some of the less athletically inclined members of her security detail, most vocally led by Duo Maxwell, who argued that it was inhuman to expect him to go running around right after breakfast.

After taking a few cleansing breaths and closing her eyes in preparation for her run, Relena began the stopwatch she wore at her wrist and set forth upon the path. Little did she know that the familiar journey would have several unexpected twists and turns this morning.


	2. Chapter 2

"The Running Woman"

by: the archduke

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing and this is a totally not-for-profit endeavor. And this also has nothing to do with the movie "The Running Man" other than I like the movie.

Chapter 2:

Heero Yuy. Soldier. Gundam pilot. Preventer. Repairman.

_"If Dr. J could see me now."_

A small smile formed on Heero Yuy's face, his musings igniting the sense of humor most people believed he lacked. All of the training that he had experienced at the hands of Dr. J certainly prepared him for his current assignment, though he did not think the good doctor would approve, nor find any humor in the somewhat ironic twists his life had taken.

He was currently in a tree overlooking the pond on the Darlian estate, fixing a security camera that had gone offline overnight, utilizing his knowledge of electronics in a decidedly pedestrian manner. No fixing of giant robots or escaping from fortified military complexes.

The life of a Preventer was positively domestic compared to the nomad he once was.

A domesticated 'Perfect Soldier'. Who would have thought?

One person always thought it was possible.

Heero blinked and returned to the task at hand. The fact that it had taken over seven hours for anyone to even notice the device was malfunctioning was inexcusable. While he did not usually work at the estate, and in fact avoided it if at all possible, his position as Head of Diplomatic Security demanded that he make a trip out to the country to investigate the matter personally. What he found was less than inspiring.

The group of officers that he had personally selected, trained, and assigned to perhaps the most important duty in the Preventers organization were completely lax in the execution of their responsibilities. Foot patrols were off schedule, monitors were left unsupervised for extended periods of time, and a pervading sense of familiarity hung in the air. Heero recognized his mistake ten minutes after he arrived – he had kept the same group of officers together for too long, and they had gotten so comfortable with each other, and with their surroundings, that they took the status quo for granted. He knew that in their eyes days at the estate were similar and monotonous, and they had all been lulled into a dangerous state of complacency.

Heero did not yell. He was by nature not a person to manifest his anger in the traditional ways. He understood the psychology of fear and used this knowledge to his advantage. Ten minutes after informing the Vice Foreign Minister's security detail, in a whisper that nonetheless spoke volumes, that within the next week they were all to be taken off assignment for gross negligence of duty and sent to Antarctica for retraining, supervised by him personally, Heero left the stunned and fearful officers and walked into the surrounding woods.

They had all redoubled their efforts towards their assigned duties, remembering the initial training they had received at the hands of Commander Yuy. And this time he was angry.

So that was how he ended up in a tree near a pond that, coincidentally, was at the approximate halfway point of the trail that Relena jogged almost every day. Heero knew this of course, because he knew Relena's schedule and had in fact ordered this very same camera installed when Relena first insisted on running cross-country. Logically he knew that she ran at this time and that she would be passing by the pond at any moment, but he was still taken aback when her form appeared emerging from the woods.

She was jogging. In a tight sleeveless t-shirt with equally tight matching shorts.

She was jogging. Hair in a ponytail that swung back and forth as she moved.

She was jogging. Sweat covered her skin as she slowed and took deep breaths of air into her lungs.

She was jogging. Things moved when people jogged. Especially female things on female bodies.

Instead of continuing on with her run, as Heero expected and hoped, she stopped no more than fifty yards from him and gazed out at the pond. Truthfully, the morning sun did paint the pond in exquisite colors, but Heero did not appreciate the beauty of nature at that moment. There was a reason he avoided coming to the Darlian estate, even to the detriment of the assignment.

If he was here he would see her, and seeing her knocked all sense of thought from his mind. And seeing her in that outfit made him nearly comatose. As he was watching, he saw her hands grip the bottom of her shirt and slowly lift, bringing the shirt up past her stomach, and she had to do a little shimmy of her entire body to bring the fabric up past her breasts and over her head.

If he visited the estate more he might witness Relena Darlian in only a sports bra more often. So he made his visits as infrequent as possible because it wouldn't be good for his career if the next thing that happened occurred on a regular basis.

He fell hard. And right out of the tree.

Author's notes: this chapter, like the one before it, is pretty short. There are two reasons for this: 1) the first two chapters are like introductions to get to the real good parts of the story, which are coming up, and 2) I am very impatient and if I don't immediately put up chapter I tend to abandon stories; blame television for giving me the attention span of a gerbil (I'm assuming gerbils have very short attention spans)


	3. Chapter 3

"The Running Woman"

by: the archduke

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing and this is a totally not-for-profit endeavor. And this also has nothing to do with the movie "The Running Man" other than I like the movie.

Chapter 3:

A jog was exactly what Relena needed that morning. The rhythmic pounding of her feet hitting the ground drowned out all of her thoughts, allowing her to concentrate on the present, which consisted of only her and the woods. There was no ESUN, no responsibilities to mankind, and definitely no Gundam pilots all vying for prime real estate in her mind.

As she passed a bend in the trail, the estate's pond came into view, reminding her that her t-shirt was soaked with sweat and sticking uncomfortably to her skin. Slowing to a walk, she gazed out at the pond. The blue water seemed to sing to her: _"Come Relena, cool yourself in my crystal waters."_

Shaking her head slightly to clear it, Relena paused a moment, and upon not hearing anything else decided that her sanity had failed for only a minute and that hearing the pond beckoning her constituted a good enough reason to take a break from her jog. She whipped off her shirt and knew that after a few splashes of water to her face she would be ready to continue.

Before she had taken even two steps a noise similar to a grunt had her turning around in time to see a person land on the ground underneath a good-sized tree. Not a second passed until realization struck and she made her way towards the unmoving form of Heero Yuy.

"What are you doing here Heero?" she said as a greeting.

She watched as Heero lifted his face from the ground and towards the sound of her voice. She saw him give a slight flinch as he met her eyes briefly, and her annoyance at his presence melted at the idea that he might be injured.

"Heero, are you alright?" she said in a much softer voice. When she made a move to touch his shoulder Heero seemingly came back to himself and stood up in a blink of an eye, arms crossed over his chest and his glare telling her that her assistance was unnecessary.

"I am fine. I landed on my head."

Knowing that her confusion clearly showed on her face, Relena made no effort to try to hide it in her voice. "Well, glad to hear it. Does that mean you were in this tree? What were you doing in the tree?"

"Preventer's business. Classified," he vaguely answered.

"Heero, I have the highest security clearance available. Considering that you were in _my_ tree, on _my_ property, I think I have the right to know what is going on." She hated to pull rank on anybody (well, maybe she hated it a little less when it was Mr. Perfect Soldier Heero Yuy) but the fact that Heero kept shifting his gaze away from her made her think that she was not going to like whatever answer he came up with.

Heero pointed up into the branches of the tree. "Camera was malfunctioning. It is now online."

That was a perfectly reasonable explanation. How strange.

"Once again, good to hear. It's heartening to know that the higher ups in the Preventer organization take the time to – Heero what is the matter? What are you looking at?"

Heero's constant eye movements made her think that ninja's were about to jump out of the surrounding foliage and the whole broken camera story was just a ruse so she wouldn't worry about her home coming under siege. With her life it wouldn't be surprising.

"Nothing is the matter." Upon seeing that his this did not pacify her, Heero cleared his throat and tried again.

"You are," he paused, and with his gaze focused on some point over her shoulder said, "inappropriately attired."

Not understanding, Relena attempted to decode his cryptic remarks.

"I was jogging. What do you wear when you work out?" She could tell by his halfway unbuttoned Preventers uniform shirt that he worked out. The visible skin was smooth and firm, and she imagined that it would taste salty from sweat and feel-

"Usually, a shirt," was his response and it jarred her from her mini-fantasy. She looked down at herself and then back up at Heero.

He was still not looking at her, and the redness of this face, which she had before attributed to the heat, upon closer inspection was actually a blush. She fought down a grin. This was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"Well Heero," she said as she moved a step closer to him, and in turn he moved a step back with a slightly panicked expression briefly crossing his face before his usually blank expression settled back into place. "I never before thought you such a prude."

Relena drew out the word prude and exaggerated the natural pout the word formed on her lips, and was quite happy to see Heero's Adam's apple bob as he gulped. Now she let her grin show.

A/N: I had to add a mention of ninja's to this story. I like ninja's.

Heero landed on his head a lot in the series. My thinking is that tries to land on his head to break his falls.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Heero was more than a bit confused. His logical warrior's instincts told him to get away, to escape the danger that this newly aggressive Relena presented. But at the same time a different instinct, one that had rarely made itself known but was quickly drowning out the warrior, told Heero that there was no danger, and that this situation had the potential to be, in fact, quite pleasant.

If Heero had grown up under more traditional circumstances, had progressed from a boy to a man with the experiences other men his age had encountered through a lifetime of dealing with the fairer sex, he would have recognized that instinct as the fundamental _male animal _in him identifying a potential mate. A female was present and expressing interest. A mating dance had begun.

But he had been trained from childhood to be a perfect soldier, and all he knew was that an illogical part of himself was telling him that having Relena smile in that way was a good thing. Her body language and expressions instilled in him a type of fear he had never experienced before. It was not the fear of bodily harm or mission failure, but of unworthiness, of being seen as lacking in her eyes in a fundamental way that was now making itself known to his consciousness.

In one of the few spontaneous acts of his life, Heero allowed that primitive side of himself to take control of the situation, to set aside his fear and continue on with the dance that Relena had started.

Guided only by instinct, he drew himself up to his full height and leaned his weight towards her. His chest brushed against her breasts but he didn't notice, instead marveling at how the teasing smile had vanished from Relena's face and had been replaced by wide eyes and slightly accelerated breathing.

Victory burned throughout his body. The tables had turned, the shoe was now on the other foot, etc. etc. The challenge issued by the female had been met, and it was now the male's turn to pursue.

Keeping his own face and voice as deadpan as possible, Heero said, "I am not a prude."

She swallowed. Heero thought he had never seen skin so wonderful as that on her neck. He wondered what it would smell like. The warrior in him announced that she probably didn't smell so good because of her run, and Heero promptly expelled that voice, deciding that now was not the time for logic.

They stood there with Heero feeling smug until the deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression on her face slowly changed into a self-deprecating grin. The aggressiveness that was previously on display was gone, leaving behind a young woman with a touch of sadness in her eyes.

Heero took a slight step back until they were no longer chest-to-chest and stared down at her. Their previous game of one-upsmanship abandoned, he was reminded of just whose company he was in. This young woman, pretty but not beautiful, smart but not brilliant, charming but not enchanting, and ordinary in so many ways, was the most important person in the known universe.

She held the heart of humanity in the palm of her hand, bridging a gap between the people of the Earth and colonies that had formed long before her birth. Had she chosen to do so, she could have retaken the throne as Queen of the World and been welcomed by those billions of people who to this day referred to her as "Queen Relena". But instead she had taken a position as a mid-level bureaucrat, seemingly content to leave the limelight to the elected officials who nonetheless resented the hold she had over the populace.

Heero's hand came up and lightly brushed against the hair above her temple. She was so much more than he could ever be. So much more than he deserved.

After a moment of silence, with Heero's hand still stroking her hair, Relena spoke with her trademark calmness.

"We've been through too much to play games with each other, haven't we Heero?" She continued when he did not respond. "I don't want to flirt with you. We can try to play the roles of real people, but that's not who we are." She gave a soft laugh. "Normal people don't literally save the world before their eighteenth birthdays."

Heero was at a loss. He didn't know what to say to this. The conversation had gone from teasing to sexual to serious in an alarmingly short span of time.

"We've always done what we've thought was best, Heero. Society's conventions have never held us back. If that were true then I'd still be living my old life as the ambassador's daughter, and you'd probably be dead." She spoke in a matter of fact manner and Heero could not disagree with her. Her will and his single mindedness had allowed them to achieve great things, greater than should have been possible.

"So in keeping with our tendency of saying 'screw you' to basically everyone, I hereby decree," here she smiled at the joke referencing her royal background, "that there will be no more games between us. We will do what we want, just like we always have, in the straightforward manner that has served us so well in the past."

Heero had to admit to himself that it sounded like a good idea. He started to bend his head down to her, intent on finally sharing a kiss, when she began to back up and further away from him.

"Let's go swimming Heero." And with those words she turned and ran to the lake, and she didn't stop until she was treading water.

In the spirit of no more games Heero called out to her. "I don't want to swim. I want to kiss!"

Seemingly not surprised by his uncharacteristic declaration, Relena responded with a shout of her own. "Swim now, kiss later!"

With that encouragement Heero toed off his shoes, removed his shirt, and followed after her, eager to see just where all of this was going.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Relena quickly realized two things while she was trying to tread water: one, she was a total hypocrite for declaring they would no longer play games with each other and then leading him on a chase and teasing him about kisses. And two, she was an idiot for not taking off her shoes before she ran into the pond. She made a mental note to work on her impulsiveness.

Deciding that she could remedy something of the situation she was now in, she contorted her body until she was able to take off one shoe without sinking underneath the water. Eyeing the shore, and only glancing quickly at the figure gracefully cutting through the water towards her, she felt confident that she could get her shoe to land with a good throw. Only when the motion of her arm had reached the point of no return did she remember that the term "throws like a girl" applied to her perfectly. She didn't like to give validation to outdated clichés, but in her case it fit perfectly.

Instead of the shoe bouncing harmlessly on the sand of the lake's small beach, its trajectory put it in the path of the only other person currently in the water. Heero paused in his swimming when the projectile made a small splash as it landed dangerously close to his head. He grabbed the item and looked at its owner.

"Present?"

He was making a joke. Too embarrassed to be shocked, she tried to play her total lack of athletic skill off.

"Haha," she deadpanned. "Put some of those muscles to work and get my shoes out of the water." She then threw the other shoe to him, and he was close enough that she was roughly on the mark. "These are my favorite pair."

When he made no move to save her shoes she decided to sweeten the pot. Pushing away the thought that she was once again playing the tease, she said with a smile, "I'll make it worth your while."

That spurred him into action. Without turning from her, he carelessly tossed the pair of shoes over his head and she saw them land past the sand onto the grass near the tree line. Impressive. And by the smirk on his face, he knew it.

He came closer to her, stopping less than an arm's length away, the movement of his limbs in the water keeping the rest of him afloat. His hair was slicked back from his face, no longer hiding his features from her gaze.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out.

Heero only slightly raised one eyebrow in response to her non sequitur.

She tried her best to elaborate. "It says something about me that, right after we decide not to play games with each other, we end up not quite in the middle of a lake. It says that I'm a coward. And I'm sorry for that."

His yes widened in surprise. "You would be the last person I'd call a coward," he said. "Your fearlessness is what makes you so good at what you do. It practically borders on recklessness."

Not really sure if his statement was a compliment or an insult, she moved the conversation along with a small smile and a shake of her head. "Dodging bullets and playing politics are easy. It's the…personal stuff that I don't do so well with."

He didn't say anything so she continued in order to fill the silence. Fixing her gaze towards a point over his left shoulder she whispered, "You were going to kiss me."

"You didn't want me to kiss you." The tone of his voice brought her eyes back to his face."

"I wanted, I want, to kiss you," she reassured. "It's just, sort of, been awhile since I've kissed someone. I think I might have forgotten how to do it."

Heero would have smiled, but she looked genuinely worried, and the instinct that had recently surfaced told him that finding humor in her dilemma would not get him any closer to a kiss.

"Maybe I could help you remember?" Moving his arms towards her under the water, he slowly brought his hands to rest lightly at her waist. He didn't bring her body any closer to his, allowing her the opportunity to back away if she chose to do so.

She set her hands on his shoulders. The weight of them warmed his dampened skin. He saw the movement of her eyes as they roamed over his face.

She let out a small sigh. "You are so pretty."

He was new to this whole male-female dynamic, but he was almost certain that was supposed to be his line.

Not sure what to say to her revelation, he gave a noncommittal grunt. It had always worked well for him in the past.

"I know men are typically called 'handsome'," she said, still studying his face, her nervousness seemingly forgotten. "But the only word that really fits you is pretty." She paused, and a little furrow formed between her eyebrows as she mulled a thought over. "It's the eyes. Very pretty." She nodded as if her words settled the matter.

He saw his opening. Giving her waist a quick squeeze to refocus her attention, he said, "I'm going to kiss you now."

She nodded and he brought his lips to hers.

They tasted like pond water, and it was not entirely pleasant. Teasing her bottom lip lightly, he touched it with his tongue and it seemed she had not forgotten how to kiss, because she opened up to him immediately.

That's when things got decidedly better. She slid towards him in the water, her arms draped across his upper back. He responded in kind by wrapping his arms fully around her waist. She tilted her head in order to meet his mouth at a better angle and he felt their teeth briefly scrape together but he didn't really care. She was really good at this. And if the way her arms tightened around his neck meant anything, then he wasn't so bad at this himself.

He didn't know how long they floated there in the pond kissing, only that at some point she had stopped trying to actively keep herself afloat and he was the only thing keeping her from drowning. He nipped at her lips, chin, jaw, any part of her that his mouth could reach, and she just held on to him tighter and returned the attention with her own mouth.

The taste of pond water was now one of his most favorite things in the world.


	6. The end

Chapter 6:

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine.

Duo didn't like to be reminded of the responsibilities associated with being a high-ranking Preventer official. He enjoyed the perks, such as using a siren whenever he was stuck in traffic, and getting all the free donuts he could eat, but as in any seemingly perfect situation there were downsides. He was experiencing one of those downsides at that exact moment.

He had been called in by one of the officers assigned to Relena's home in the country. The guy had been pretty panicked, but from what Duo could tell the gist of the situation was that Heero had gone down there, scared the hell out of everyone by mentioning retraining, and then ran off with Relena to go sailing or swimming or something to do with water. It was all a bit confusing.

There had been some disagreement within the ranks about going after them, so the brilliant solution was to call in for reinforcements. And since everyone knew that he was sort of friends with Heero, and the most likely to be able to dodge any bullets coming his way, he had been called.

So that was why he was currently walking up the front steps of the country estate trying to figure out whether he should be glad that it looked like Heero had finally made his move regarding Relena or worried about his own health if he had to step in and do…something. He wasn't the chastity police, and truth be told he thought both Heero's and Relena's dispositions would be improved with a little mutual nakedness. They were both way too uptight.

Upon reaching the porch and before he had the chance to knock, the front door swung open and Duo was greeted by a nervous looking Preventer who must have been given watch duty. The relief on the young man's face gave Duo a good indication of how dire the situation he was walking into, because he was very rarely thought of as the solution to anyone's problems.

He was given a crisp salute, which he jauntily returned. He found that levity was a great way to lessen the tension in stressful situations, so he plastered a grin upon his face and strolled into Relena's foyer.

"Never fear, I am here. So why the urgent summons," Duo sneaked a glance at the man's name badge, "Simmons? I'm a city boy and all this fresh air isn't good for my lungs. It makes them remember that air shouldn't be visible."

Simmons walked into the house as he talked. "Sir, there's been a…problem with the Minister's morning jog. There has been a deviation from the schedule, and while in other circumstances we'd handle it ourselves, there are…unique circumstances surrounding this particular…incident."

Duo rolled his eyes at Simmons's halting, not-at-all useful explanation. "How about you lay it out plainly for me. All this talk of 'unique circumstances' and 'incidents' doesn't tell me shit about what I'm doing here."

Simmons stopped in front of a door and turned to Duo. "It'll be easier to show you what I mean." Simmons opened the door and revealed a room with people, all projecting the same nervousness that Simmons did. Between the bodies Duo caught glimpses of monitors showing various points around the estate.

It was the surveillance room, a place he rarely frequented when he had been assigned to Relena's protective detail before his promotion. He had been one of the 'shadows', sticking close to Relena herself.

The occupants of the room immediately quieted when he entered. They cleared the way as Simmons lead him towards one particular monitor, and he sat in the chair that was offered. Without any words being exchanged, Simmons pressed a button and stepped back behind Duo's chair.

Duo focused on the screen as it went from projecting snow to the glaring face of Heero Yuy, up close and personal. Duo jumped a bit at the intensity shown in the image's eyes and hoped that nobody noticed. It wasn't good if the underlings thought he was afraid of Heero. He did have a reputation to maintain.

Duo watched as Heero gave the camera a self-satisfied smirk and turned to put what looked like a screwdriver into a small toolbox resting against a tree trunk. By the preponderance of leaves and what could be seen of the background it looked as if Heero was in a tree. And if he was in a tree with a screwdriver playing with a surveillance camera, that meant that somebody had screwed up, big time.

Duo spoke without taking his eyes off the screen. "You guys are in trouble if he had to be the one to fix that camera. Heero doesn't like it when Relena's security is messed with. Is that what the retraining is about?"

Simmons, who in addition to watch duty must have also been elected the official spokeman of the group, answered. "He mentioned Antarctica. We-" He was cut off by sympathetic sounds coming from Duo. "Say no more. 'Antarctica' told me everything I need to know." The sad shaking of his head elicited some whimpers from the gathered officers. Their fears had been confirmed.

On the screen, Heero had frozen in putting his tools away, and while he was still turned towards the camera his attention was focused beyond the lens. Then, to Duo's astonishment, whatever had captured Heero's attention had captivated him so thoroughly that he lost his balance and toppled right off the branch. His foot caught the camera as he fell out of view head first, knocking it around approximately 180 degrees and giving Duo a view of a different set of trees.

Simmons must have felt that some commentary was needed at this point. "By the camera's location and time stamp we know where and when this takes place. We compared it to the Minister's usual jogging schedule, and, um, we surmise that the probability of overlap at that moment was good. Very good."

Duo couldn't suppress his laughter. "He literally fell for her. Wait till Hilde hears this. Hell, wait till Zechs hears this! Fan-freakin-tastic!" He had to curl his hands into fists or he was going to start rubbing them together in a gleeful fashion. That bit of information alone made the trek to the country worth it.

Simmons reached past Duo to the control panel. "Nothing much happens after this, sir, except one anomaly we can't quite figure out. This is what's causing most of our confusion."

The tape was fast-forwarded and then paused. Duo leaned towards the screen and tried to make out the blurry image frozen midair. "What is that? A bird?"

"No sir," Simmons said. "From our analysis of the image it appears to be a shoe. We believe it's the left running shoe of the Minister. And right here," he started the tape again and then paused once more and pointed to another airborne object, "is the Minister's right running shoe. We know that she's with a, um, Preventer escort, but perhaps they've encountered a situation and that was her signaling to us for help? We would have sent officers to investigate, if it were not for some mitigating factors."

"What sort of mitigating factors?"

"Once again, by analyzing the location of the camera and how much it was jostled, and the trajectory of the objects shown, we conclude that the most likely originating point of the shoes is the estate lake."

Duo turned in the chair to look up at Simmons. "Let me get this straight. Relena's shoes were probably thrown from the lake. I use 'throw' because it makes the most sense. And there is no way that this," here he turned back to the shoe suspended on the screen, "was thrown by Relena. She's athletic but she can't throw worth shit. I was her guard for two years, I know. We also know that Heero is with her. Ergo, it is safe to say that Heero is probably the thrower.

"We've got Heero throwing pieces of Relena's clothing around in the vicinity of the lake. Does that sound about right?" Two words flashed through Duo's mind: 'skinny' and 'dipping'.

Simmons was on the same track, because he gave a little shrug and said quietly, "We didn't want to interrupt anything, um, personal. We know that they have some sort of relationship with each other."

'_Yeah,' _Duo thought, _'If you call two morons refusing to admit that they're in love a relationship.'_ For two such smart people they acted completely obtuse when it came to one another. Even the grunts knew they had chemistry. Maybe this was the catalyst they needed to finally admit the truth to themselves. Duo, ever the romantic, felt hope unfurling within him. Or it might have been lunch. He rubbed his chest a bit and cursed the burrito he had eaten.

"Are there any other cameras in this vicinity?" He had to be careful he didn't jump the gun. Before he had them married off he needed some corroboration. Such as some pixilated evidence of nakedness.

"No sir," Simmons replied. "At least none focusing on the area in question. We could send a scout to the location to give a physical check. But since it's been approximately two hours since we last had visual confirmation of the Minister's whereabouts, we're not exactly sure if she's still at the last known location."

In any other situation, having lost track of Relena for twenty minutes, let alone two hours, would have been a Preventer code red alert. But Duo, and most likely everyone else in the surveillance room, knew that chances were more than good she wasn't alone. She was probably with the one person in the universe she was most safe with. That didn't mean they shouldn't at least make a minimal effort to do their jobs.

"I get it why you guys didn't want to get involved. I'm sure that if Heero and Relena are together chances are that they don't want to be bothered. But calling me in, and then waffling about what to do is totally not cool.

"Protocol says that visual confirmation on the subject should be maintained. You guys lost visual and instead of sucking it up and finding out what's going on, you all passed the buck to me. Well I'm not going to take the blame for this one. Someone should have gone down there. Trust me, Heero's going to be much more pissed about this screw up than if he caught someone playing peeping tom. I think a trip to Antarctica is definitely needed for this group."

The mood in the room immediately deflated. Maybe they thought that Duo could have gotten them out of their punishment, but having him concur with it was a blow. Duo looked around and saw a mixture of sheepish, embarrassed and downright glum faces. He hated to do it, but it looked like he was going to have to send a memo to Lady Une. If security had lapsed this much at Relena's home, a high level priority for the Preventers, it was time to do a top down check on other protective locations. Now he was getting bummed. This was going to mean more work for him.

"Have they shown up on any other cameras? Maybe they're on their way back to the house," Duo said.

"There's been no other visual of them, sir. We've been monitoring the other stations and nothing's come up." It wasn't Simmons who had answered, but instead a severe looking woman who was seated further down the control panel counter. At least it looked like someone else around here was doing their job.

"Alright, I'll go down myself and see if they're still at the lake. Heero knows where every camera is at this place, so it wouldn't be hard for him to dodge them if they decided to come back. Who knows, he could be in this house right now." He let his voice trail away on the last sentence, injecting an ominous quality to his words. He saw a few people glance around as if expecting Heero to pop out of the walls. With that he left the group to wallow in their own anxiety.

Duo had made it down the back steps towards the woods when he stopped mid stride. He blinked his eyes and shook his head but the image he was seeing didn't disappear.

Walking towards him were Heero and Relena. More specifically, Heero was carrying Relena on his back with her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist. She was holding her shoes against his chest, and her feet were clad in white athletic socks. The strangest thing though was that the socks, as well as both their hair and Relena's shorts and Heero's dress pants, were soaked. Their shirts were merely damp. It looked as if they hadn't gone skinny dipping but merely half-clothed dipping.

Even though their lack of 'skinny' was disappointing, Duo was buoyed by the fact that they both looked happy. Relena had her face turned towards Heero's ear while he kept his head bent towards the ground. She must have been saying something to him because he suddenly smiled and brought his head up to look at her. That's when Duo's presence was finally noticed.

To Duo's surprise, Heero kept walking towards the house and acknowledged him with a nod of his head. Without releasing Relena or breaking his stride, Heero said to Duo, "They screwed up. Make plans for retraining at Antarctica. And have Wufei supervise, I'll be busy." Heero's eyes darted to Relena then back to Duo.

As they passed by him, Relena gave some orders of her own. "And Duo, could you have someone cancel my appointments for today? I've already missed my morning meetings, but there's nothing that can't be rescheduled. I'm taking a sick day." She tightened her arms around Heero and they went up the steps and disappeared into the house.

Duo stood staring at the empty back door and then hollered after them, "It's about time!"

Author's note: Finally done! It really shouldn't have taken me almost 2 years, but there you go. Thanks for all the kind words.


End file.
